I'm curious what tips and tricks do you have to get through your daily life on your "bad" days?

For me I live alone so I've gotten creative over the years.

I have a tow strap that goes between my mattress and my box spring. I use this to help me get out of bed on those days where I just can't seem to do it alone. (tow strap is a durable flat nylon material. Look it up online for a picture)

I have hard wood floors in my house so I have 2 office chairs at each end of the house for those days that I can't seem to make it down the hall. I just sit in the chair and weeeeee down the hall!

I replaced all my door knobs with lever handles. I can't seem to do well with regular door knobs even on a good day.

So what tips and tricks do you all have?

sits_inthe_corner

05-22-2008, 02:54 PM

Well...

My laundry area is down stairs....so I bought a laundry bag instead of a basket. I fill it up and let it roll down the stairs. (gives me something soft to land on if going down the stairs doesn't work out well :lol: ) Then I can fill it with the clean folded clothes and drag it back up the stairs. (or get my dog to fetch it, but only if he's having a good day. He's elderly and not as spry as he used to be.)

I wear satin pajamas. Makes it easier for me to turn over at night and to sliiiIIiiIIiiide out of bed in the morning :)

I have canes located through out the house. They come in hand.

SwirlyGirly

05-23-2008, 12:16 PM

Ohhh I thought of another. I use masking tape to wrap my toothbrush and any other smallish thing that I have a hard time holding on to. They do make grips you can buy that help, but I find they often don't fit what I need them to. The masking tape you can make it as big as you need to, so you can have a better grip.

Suzique

05-23-2008, 05:12 PM

Swirly Girl and Sits_inthe_Corner and others: Another thing that is really helpful for "gripping" is the soft pipe insulation. My dad put some on the rounded handle of my canes, and it is much easier for me to grasp than the 1" diameter handle before the addition. The pipe insulation can be put on anything (well, not your toothbrush - haha) that is too small to comfortably grip, and you can seat it in place with a good tape - depending on your preference (I particularly like the cloth medical tape, but I have to replace it rather often).
My favorite things for "bad days" are the comfort baskets that I make up when I am feeling pretty good for use when I am not. This includes a favorite lotion for massaging painful hands, knees, and feet, books that I have chosen for relaxation (variety, as my needs change with my moods), a little cd player and soothing music, candles with really pleasant scents, etc. My husband can put one of the baskets by my bed when he leaves for work, and I can set up my own little "spa" in my room to relax and comfort myself. Setting these up ahead of time keeps me from having to go around searching for the items when I am feeling too ill to do so, and my husband doesn't have to try to locate the items, either.
I purposely do not read those special books when I am at my best, so that I have something really special to look forward to when I am feeling yucky. If you are not a reader, you can do the same with a video, or a puzzle, crosswords puzzle book, etc. Just a special something to distract you from how awful you are feeling!
This is a wonderful idea of a thread, and I love the things you guys wrote about. I hope others chime in, too.

Susan

mnjodette

05-23-2008, 06:12 PM

Oh, these are great ideas! I love the 'pamper yourself' baskets, Susan! You're so clever to plan that well.

I'm just starting to have a lot of trouble with my hands - I've been lucky with only a small amount of joint pain until the past few months. My hands are getting pretty bad and some of these ideas will really help.

We have a house with 3 floors - master bedroom on the upper level; most living space in the middle; laundry and where we watch TV on the lower level. I try to keep a set of anything I need (cleaning things, reading materials, pens, paper, over-the-counter meds) on each floor. Saves me from having to go up and down stairs when my legs aren't cooperating.

Anyone have good ideas for using a keyboard? My hands are starting to really ache when I have to key in a lot of text - and I write grants for a living....kinda' hard to avoid! (At least online here I can just type a little at a time...)

Jody, Have you ever looked into voice recognition software? Last time I tried one (over 5 years ago) they were still kinda buggy. I always had to go back over a document to check for errors (things like using the wrong "there, their, they're"). But considering the advances in technology today they should have improved some. You might want to try some out.

Oluwa

05-23-2008, 06:57 PM

Jody,

Though I have the same issues with my hands on the keyboard...I haven't set it up, but Windows Vista has a Voice Recognition Program that came with my new PC...

I haven't because well, brain dead...and I don't know if I have a microphone that will work with the program...maybe I will investigate this weekend while my husband is home..

It says you can dictate text into documents..almost anything.

Rob uses one..hey Rob...does it work for anything?

TIP...

OXO Good Grips has great utensils for the kitchen. Big handles. I love the Locking Tongs...takes the pressure off from squeezing.http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10064&item=46711&minisite=10024&respid=53057

Also I have one of those OXO soap dispensing scrub wands with a round sponge on the end too to wash dishes. Big handle, extra sponges can be bought. Two to a box.. Love it. My hands can't hold a rag wash properly..http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10043&item=47321&minisite=10024&respid=53057

I also use a a vegetable brush to scrub my pans with....

The OXO peeler wasn't a hit..not sharp enough...

ah...more to come...

L.,
Oluwa

mnjodette

05-23-2008, 08:48 PM

You know, the voice recognition thing is a great idea. I don't know why I didn't think if that. We're just shopping for a new notebook computer. I'm sure I can find one that will listen to me! :D

TERIOD

05-24-2008, 08:14 AM

Oh, these are great ideas! I love the 'pamper yourself' baskets, Susan! You're so clever to plan that well.

I'm just starting to have a lot of trouble with my hands - I've been lucky with only a small amount of joint pain until the past few months. My hands are getting pretty bad and some of these ideas will really help.

We have a house with 3 floors - master bedroom on the upper level; most living space in the middle; laundry and where we watch TV on the lower level. I try to keep a set of anything I need (cleaning things, reading materials, pens, paper, over-the-counter meds) on each floor. Saves me from having to go up and down stairs when my legs aren't cooperating.

Anyone have good ideas for using a keyboard? My hands are starting to really ache when I have to key in a lot of text - and I write grants for a living....kinda' hard to avoid! (At least online here I can just type a little at a time...)

Some of these tips are ones I hadn't thought of, thanks so much! My SO has MS, as many of you know, and she's always having hand trouble - I'm going to get some insulation for her canes and her walker.

As far as the kayboard, I've seen many "ergo" keyboards that look a bit more hand-friendly, if the voice recognition thing doesn't work. I do know those programs have improved a lot - so maybe that's something to look into.

I still use the baskets for clothes - but don't fill them as high. And getting the basket back downstairs? Well, I yell "BANZAIII!!!" and give 'em a toss. Makes a wonderful clatter. They wait for me patiently at the bottom. :lol:

OXO products are fabulous - I bought their can-opener thing-ee, but found that I STILL had problems - as I couldn't grasp the jars while I was using the thing-ee to twist the lid. Well, a strap-clamp worked just right. Clamp in one hand, thing-ee in the other, twist and voila'!

Amazing how creative we get. And it is so fabulous to share our little "AHA!" moments.

rob

05-24-2008, 03:14 PM

Hey everyone,

Yes, I've been using voice recognition software on my computer for a few months now. It's part of the Windows Vista that came with my computer. I have an HP Pavillion Entertainment PC, and it has a microphone built in. I don't know if others have that though. It's really easy to use and understand. Didn't take long at all to get used to it. What I'm writing right now is all from me speaking. Sometimes I still type manually, but on the days where my hands are not working well, I use the voice program. It will also read everything on the page for you as well, and even say good morning! It also can curse like a sailor. I got a rather raunchy joke from my father one day, and the computer read it. There's something really funny about hearing a female computer voice rattle off four letter words.

mnjodette

05-25-2008, 02:58 PM

Rob, that's so funny - I chuckled thinking about the nice, female voices they use on those programs telling a raunchy joke! :lol: :lol:

My husband said the VRS has come a long way and we can certainly have that capability on a new notebook. I'm anxious to get that! First thing I'm going to do is send myself a raunchy joke! :wink:

Hatlady: I have some of the OXO things - they are great. I've also got some of those ridged-rubber jar opener things that help. But, if it's a new jar, really tight - they just don't cut it.

Jody

TERIOD

05-25-2008, 03:04 PM

Hey everyone,

Yes, I've been using voice recognition software on my computer for a few months now. It's part of the Windows Vista that came with my computer. I have an HP Pavillion Entertainment PC, and it has a microphone built in. I don't know if others have that though. It's really easy to use and understand. Didn't take long at all to get used to it. What I'm writing right now is all from me speaking. Sometimes I still type manually, but on the days where my hands are not working well, I use the voice program. It will also read everything on the page for you as well, and even say good morning! It also can curse like a sailor. I got a rather raunchy joke from my father one day, and the computer read it. There's something really funny about hearing a female computer voice rattle off four letter words.
could you explain this more, i have vista/pavilion laptop and want to know if this is available to me :lol:

Suzique

05-25-2008, 07:58 PM

Hey, Everyone, Don't know what the health and human services area of your state offers for each of you, but many states have assistive devices that are approved to purchase for people who are disabled (and you do not have to be on social security - just get a doctor's letter stating that you need it, Jody). The voice recognition software is one of the programs that is offered by some. I am getting it paid for through the college where I am a student, but the ADA advisor told me that some disability services offer them to people who are not students, too. You might check into it, Jody, if you don't want to purchase Vista (which has the software built in, I understand - Rob??), because the software individually is like $900, I think. I am anxious to hear more about the Vista software, Rob, and it sounds like Teriod is, too. You might start a thread on it, and maybe others will comment, as well. I am considering purchasing it for my big computer (I use my lap top when in bed or feeling really badly, so that is where I plan to put the voice recognition software), as part of an upgrade we are planning - it is a year old, so already an antique! haha
Thanks for the upbeat comments, everyone. This is a great thread!

Susan

mnjodette

05-26-2008, 08:16 AM

Hi, Susan. Thanks for the info! I was looking on the web (reviews of voice recognition software) and the one included with Vista is "...very robust" according to the ratings - it's reputed to be as good as the best you can buy separately. You can replace your OS with Vista (on some older computers) but from what I read (and from my techie husband) it takes a pretty 'beefy' computer to support it. They are now recommending 3GB memory in new computers, as Vista runs so much better with more memory.

We're just about ready to 'spring' for a new notebook, so I should be all set!

Jody

rob

05-26-2008, 09:44 AM

Hi guys,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to computers and the associated hardware/software. Here's what I have- My computer is a HP Pavillion dv9000. I bought it as an "entertainment pc" as I use it mostly for watching movies, listening to music and such. I also use it for running flight simulator software, which is the main purpose, and I had it set up specifically for the sim. I use Windows Vista Home Premium. The processor is a 2.00ghz. Memory (ram) is 2046 MB. The system type is 32bit. My graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600. The computer also has dual disk drives. I understand basically what all these specs mean, but not much more than that. The voice recognition program was in the computer when I bought it. I had to go into a thing called "accessibility options" when I first got the computer and set it up. I just clicked on an "enable" icon for the voice, and it ran me through a tutorial, and showed me how to modify/change things like the voice speed, and pitch, so I could understand what it was saying. I also had to speak some lines it told me to, so it could put my voice into memory, and do whatever it does to learn what you sound like. It has gotten progressively easier to use, and faster as well. The intro to the program said that the computer will learn patterns and inflections in your voice, and it would work better each time you use it, which it has. As far as what someone else needs in order to make this work on another computer, I don't know. The voice works perfectly with the specifications/memory my computer has, so maybe that could be a guide. If anyone has more specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I'm trying to become more "tech savvy", but I'm still very much a novice when it comes to the particulars of operating systems and such. Hope this helps.

mnjodette

05-26-2008, 12:00 PM

You sound pretty 'tech savvy' to me, Rob! I rely on my very tech savvy husband for all of my info.

How are you feeling? No negative affects from being out on the boat? I hope sailing was a blast!

Quiet here today; husband is out helping our younger son on his land - he's grooming about 80 acres into a deer hunter's paradise. Somehow it doesn't seem fair....plant just the right crops and the deer come from miles to eat it. Then... BAM...venison stew! http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/fighting/fighting0060.gif (http://www.scottishpower.co.uk)

Feeling a little less than great myself - laying low today....always a good idea when IT pays an unwelcome visit!

Jody

sits_inthe_corner

05-26-2008, 01:54 PM

Hugs Jody

Sorry you've got a case of IT. Gentle hugs and get out the spoil me kit :)

TERIOD

05-26-2008, 02:06 PM

rc flight sims or regular??

mnjodette

05-26-2008, 02:13 PM

Thanks, SITC! Curled up right now with my blankie and book - waiting for hubby to get home and wait on me! :wink:

Jody

rob

05-26-2008, 06:06 PM

rc flight sims or regular??

Actually both Terry, I'm no longer able to have a pilots license, so I have fun flying the Microsoft Flight Sim X instead. I build/fly r/c model planes and helicopters as well, and I use Realflight 4.0 to practice my aerobatic routines. I'm flying a demo at the big airshow we have here in August. There's nothing worse than crashing in front of a couple thousand people! Practice on the sim really helps. I have a 1/3 scale Extra 300, and a 1/4 Piper Cub. Have a couple small electric "parkflyer" type planes as well. I really enjoy both building, and flying. Are you into flying at all, either R/C, or real?

TERIOD

05-26-2008, 07:10 PM

i just recently got into rc seemed like a good activity that wasnt to stressfull, I have a hanger 9 p51 60 and a couple of parkfliers,, I use my old laptop to run my sims,, you talk about crashing in front of a couple hundred people :o I just want to land the bleepin thing,, i got ate up by a barb wire fence pretty good last time i went out
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa164/teriod/cats/3328_2.jpg
I perhaps chose the wrong plane to learn with but slowly getting the hang of it, ive been thinking about getting a high winged model like a piper or a cessna but i have a real hrd time getting away from the warbirds

sits_inthe_corner

05-27-2008, 03:13 PM

Very cool TERIOD

mnjodette

05-27-2008, 04:30 PM

Terry and Rob, that sounds so cool! I've watched people flying r/c planes - some take it very seriously, huh? (Terry, that's a great picture! My Dad was a bomber pilot in WWII - B24 Liberators. When he died, we had a picture of his plane laser-etched on his grave marker - very cool!)

Jody

rob

05-27-2008, 05:19 PM

Wow terry, That's very cool. I have the Hangar 9 P-51 PTS. It's a .45 class, so it's a bit smaller, and it's semi-scale. Doesn't have the graceful lines of yours. It was my first gas plane. I like the warbirds too. The PTS model is pretty forgiving, and I have about 50 flights on it now with no problems. I bought a Hangar 9 Piper Pawnee. It's the 80" model. It's almost ready for it's maiden flight. This winter"s big project is going to be a Top Flite B-25 Mitchell kit. !00" wingspan and two .81 four strokes. It's my first twin engine. Scary looking! Does your Mustang have retracts? It looks great. Flaps too? I've saved alot of money and heartache by crashing on the simulator instead of for real, well, most of the time anyway! When I figure out how to get my scanner working, I'll post some pics. Thanks for the pic of the Mustang.

TERIOD

05-27-2008, 05:41 PM

thats just a generic picture, yes it has retracts except for the retracts and a few more inches its the same as the pts, I wish i had gotten that for a first plane, it seems it more forgiving

rob

05-27-2008, 05:49 PM

Terry and Rob, that sounds so cool! I've watched people flying r/c planes - some take it very seriously, huh? (Terry, that's a great picture! My Dad was a bomber pilot in WWII - B24 Liberators. When he died, we had a picture of his plane laser-etched on his grave marker - very cool!)

Jody

Jody,

B-24 Liberator, wow. The pilots and crewmen on those had a very tough time of it. Many never returned, as I'm sure you know. There is a fellow in the flying club who has an r/c B-24 with a wingspan of 18 feet or so. It's the biggest r/c I've seen fly. He has a trailer he hauls it in. Has to take the outer wings off to transport it. Has 4 gasoline burning engines, and uses up as much runway as a real cessna 172 just to take off. He has a partner with a backup radio next to him in case there is a problem of some sort, it weighs almost 100lbs, could hurt something with it! He'll be at the airshow doing a demo with me and another guy, I'll get some pics of it for you. That's really a nice thing to have your fathers plane etched into his headstone. People I've known who did things like your father, did them when they were young. They went on to do alot in their lives, but they never forgot their job, and the men they served with. My father was in combat in Korea when he was 22, and in the Marine Corps. He still goes to reunions, and they talk about what they did like it was just yesterday. I went to his last reunion at Camp Pendleton with him. It was really something. My father, went with me to my last reunion as well. Once upon a time, I was a crewman on an Abrams Tank. I had reunion at Ft. Knox Kentucky with guys from my old unit last year. Dad really got a kick out of it. He got to jump up into to Commanders position on top of the turret and go for a ride. Some current tankers put on a night live fire demo, and he really liked that. There's no way you can describe how a dozen 120mm main guns sound when they fire. He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, all smiles. Look at me, I'm starting to ramble. Thanks for telling us about your Dad. I'll get some pics for you.

rob

05-27-2008, 06:02 PM

thats just a generic picture, yes it has retracts except for the retracts and a few more inches its the same as the pts, I wish i had gotten that for a first plane, it seems it more forgiving

Yeah, the PTS has those clear wing droops, and the flaps come set at 15 degrees. The landing gear has those goofy "speed brakes" as well. It was very forgiving. I stripped all the slow you down stuff off it as I got better, and it really is quick now. You know, the reason I bought that Pawnee was a fellow in the club let me fly his on a buddy box. It's a funny looking cropduster, but it flies very nice. Super low wing loading. It just floats. It has an 80" span, but he just had a plain .45 2 stroke in it, and it had tons of power. Very easy to see as well. For a forgiving low wing taildragger, you might want to consider one. I paid $179.00 retail at our local hobby shop. Very reasonable for such a big ARF. Workmanship is really nice too. Hangar 9 does a good job. I put a cheap Super Tigre .45 in it. Plain jane servos and receiver as well. I'm into it for just under $350, using my existing transmitter. I'm flying it this weekend, let you know how it goes.

mnjodette

05-27-2008, 06:07 PM

Oh, wow...you and your Dad must have a lot of stories to share! My Dad kept in touch (via email) with some of the men from his crew, but I don't think he'd been to a reunion in a long while. He didn't talk about the war a lot. He was in the Pacific, and he was very young. He ended up stationed on occupied Japan at the end and brought back a lot of wonderful stuff. Our family home was flooded once and we lost a lot of those things....too bad. I have a lot of pictures that he took, though, and his squadron book (which is where I got the photo of his plane.)

I'd love to see pix of that r/c plane. Must be just incredible. I didn't know there were any of that size. He would have to be a very skilled 'pilot' to fly the thing, I'm sure.

Jody

TERIOD

05-27-2008, 06:08 PM

what kind of radio do you use,, i have a dx6i 2.4

rob

05-28-2008, 09:34 AM

I use the exact same radio. It came with my E-Flite Blade 400 helicopter, and I've been purchasing receivers little by little and converting everything over to 2.4ghz. Nice to not have to worry about frequencies and crystals anymore. I have a 6 channel FM Futaba that's helicopter specific that I still use with my Raptor 50 Heli. Have you tinkered with helicopters at all? I'm still a novice on the heli's. I can hover tail in and do some slow forward flight. Have a long way to go though. I started with one of those little Blade CX copters with the counter-rotating blades. It's cheap, and really easy to learn. The Blade 400 and Raptor have the conventional collective pitch rotor and tailrotor, and are really touchy. Sweaty palm teeth clenching touchy!

Suzique

05-30-2008, 11:35 AM

Gosh - you guys are really into a cool hobby. I wish I could share a video with you that is of real jets (I am really bad remembering the numbers and stuff) that the Air Force is flying. My nephew is a pilot (just got promoted to Major - we are so proud), and when he graduated from one of his flight schools, we were shown an awesome video of the guys flying their planes and doing stunts. The music in the background was "The Final Countdown" - I videoed their video, and it came out really good. My son and husband love to watch it. Is there a site where you can load up videos for others to see? I am a bit tech ignorant.

Susan

mnjodette

05-31-2008, 12:39 PM

Suzique, that's so cool that your nephew got promoted! It's amazing to watch those things fly. We have a pretty big airshow here every other year. The Blue Angels come, and lots of others. This area used to have a big airbase (now it's an air nat'l guard base) so it has a really huge, long runway to support those big guys. Last airshow we had a Stealth fighter here....just completely amazing! One of my son's best friends was in the show, flying the old F16s that they use at the guard base. So cool to have him stand with us after he was done, filling us in on all of the details about the other flights. Just a couple of weeks ago the Canadian Snow Birds were here (SITC, have you ever seen them?) and they flew over Lake Superior (near shore) doing manuevers. I missed that, so I'm going to be sure I don't miss the air show! (lots of sunblock, umbrella, hat, long sleeves........)

Jody

sits_inthe_corner

05-31-2008, 12:53 PM

Jody, the office building I work in looks out over Halifax harbour, and we have a great seat for fly by's which the snow birds do from time to time. I've also seen the blue angels over the harbour, they come up for our airshows. Very cool.

mnjodette

05-31-2008, 01:04 PM

Hey, that's very cool! My office building looks out over a big harbor in Lake Superior....it can be verrryyyy distracting. ("I'm not watching the boats....really.....I'm thinking!") :oops:

Jody

rob

05-31-2008, 01:14 PM

Suzique, it takes many years of hard work to achieve the rank of Major in any branch of the armed services. That's truly something to be proud of. I don't know much about uploading/hosting videos, but I'd love to see the video you have. Jody, the Snowbirds are some darn good pilots. I helped organize an airshow a few years ago, and was able to go for a ride in one of their planes. I had my pilots license at the time, and got to take the controls for a few, very short, very exciting minutes. The Canadair CT-114 jet they fly is a tandem two seat side by side trainer, so taking a passenger is possible. The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds both fly single seat F-18 and F-16 fighters, at the time, a ride along wasn't possible. True professionals all. And all are a credit to their respective countries, and services.

rob

05-31-2008, 01:31 PM

Hey Jody,

The airshow I was involved in had the US Air Force display one of their F-117A Stealth Fighters. The night before the show the Air Force ground crew and security people set up a roped off area with armed guards for the 117 to be parked at during the show. The guards were out there doing their thing long before the show started, and long before the plane showed up. I went over to talk to one of the guards, and I asked him why they were guarding a roped off empty spot. He whispered to me, "It's not really empty, the plane is right there, it's Stealth don't you know". Good to know those fellows have a sense of humor.

My brother-in-law was a Lt. Colonel in the airforce when he retired. He worked on the logistics on the very first of the Stealth projects. Years before that, he was a test pilot. He had enough, though, and chose not to fly after he retired. Now he teaches math to kids in a school for emotionally disturbed kids. Always the risk taker!! :wink:

Jody

Oluwa

07-21-2008, 06:21 PM

My husband picked up gel Shout spot cleaner...too hard on the hands to squeeze and squeeze.

Out of frustration I dumped it into a Rubbermaid plastic container with lid and used a one inch paint brush and brushed it on the spots of our outdoor yard work clothing...